Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a democrat from Maryland, thinks the bill is too important to rush.

"This is a bill that is going to impact 1/6 of the United States economy," he told WBAL NewsRadio 1090's morning program Thursday. "... A bill of that magnitude should at least go through the committee process. The workhorse bodies of the Senate are the committees. That's where people get an opportunity to really dig into these things."

Van Hollen added that fellow Senators, experts and members of the public must see the bill before anything more is done.

Listen to the full segment:

WBAL News Now host Bryan Nehman then asked the junior senator whether this situation is similar to when Democrats pushed through the Affordable Care Act in 2009.

'There is, with all respect, no comparison between the process in this case and the one before," he said. "Last time there were actually over 100 committee hearings and public forums to look over the Affordable Care Act. In this case, there have been zero."

The conversation then shifted toward healthcare exchanges within Maryland.

Van Hollen noted that that the exchanges aren't perfect and he has put forward a number of solutions.

"One idea, create a public option so that you have competition, more competition in every exchange," he said. "Make sure that everybody in every part of the country has an option. That will drive down prices."